WTBB 15 - Battle Report 01

I've actually been at a loss as what to write about this week. I thought about writing about the maps, but that is such dry material it's actually very boring to write about and would probably be very boring to read about as well. So I won't do that. I already wrote about the tank lines that I can write about, and about the noobs overloading the game. So what's left then? Aside from more platooning stories that is. And then I realised - I can just write about the battles I have, like the one I ended the last blog entry with. Not specifically about the platoon mate I'd be driving with (since going in alone is heck-scary these days), but about the actual battles. So I'm just going to try that in this entry, see if it works =)

I'm going to start with one I had last weekend, with Puffin. We had been skyping while playing - though we had left the massive conversation going on because it was just too random, and that really does help with planning a battle. I was driving my Object 268 (absolutely adore that thing), and he was driving the E50 Ausf. M. which is a medium tank. Both are tier X. The fun part about the 268 is that it is so fast, it can flank with the mediums, and that is usually the way to go with this combination. After all, why face the enemy when you can hit their side or back?

We spawned in the map called Falls Creek. It is a map that always leads to very engaging battles. Both teams start on the right side of the map, and they're separated by a bridge. Now, you can get yourself completely destroyed at the bridge, or you can pwn it. It depends on how many members of the enemy team go there too. The other option is going towards the base, which is further to the left of the map. But there's also a flanking route that goes behind the base.

Those are basically the three (main) ways you can go while battling here. It's also the one map that I've managed to get a Raider on, which is a medal that you get by capturing the base while being undetected by the enemy the whole game - this happened because the enemy team was kept busy and was slowly destroyed at the bridge, none of them able to get close to the base while I captured it. Not a medal I'm proud of, and I doubt my team was happy with me (I know Raccoon wasn't, in any case), but it's one less medal to get for the complete collection.

Anyway, back to the game I was going to write about. Puffin went towards the bridge, and I decided to flank. It took Puffin some time to realise that, and by then he and the other four members of our team were being held at the bridge, so he couldn't change his position. I only had one guy with me, and I never looked back to see who it was. Our team was getting hurt bad, and I didn't want to stop, because the more damage I could do while they still had something to distract them, the better the odds of victory.

As a TD, I knew I could deal them massive damage, but then I would have had to complete my flanking first. When me and my mystery companion got there, we started shooting, my lovely firepower meaning I made a kill quite quickly, and my team members managed to kill two others as well. At that point, that companion and the rest of the team died, leaving only me and Puffin against 4 tanks - they simply seemed to vanish, like teams nowadays do often. I was on one side of the bridge, Puffin on the other.

I had been damaged by then, and was pulling back behind some buildings. An M103, a tank that usually manages to bounce a lot of shots I fire at it unless I get the time to aim carefully, peeked from behind the building, intending to finish me off. Now, luckily for me, the Object 268 is a natural bouncer in the right hands, and I turn out to have rather decent hands for it. I made his shot bounce. Then, as he started pulling back, I fired, finishing him off and getting my second kill. This left an E100 (tier X), an IS3 (tier VIII) and another object 268 (tier X). The IS3 was busy hunting down Puffin with the E100, and they killed him just as I facing off with the Object 268.

The E100 is an absolute nightmare tank to be up against (same tank Zeus was driving in that more than epic game), and it is hard to kill even in my 268. The other 268 posed a problem because it's the same tank I was driving - thus it had the same firepower. The IS3 did not have to be that much trouble, but all things combined, I figured I was screwed, since I was only one shot away from being dead when it came to the E100 and the 268 firing at me. Luckily, the IS3 and the E100 were still on the other side of the bridge. I knew I had to be fast in killing the other 268 to have any chance at all.

So, facing the other 268, I shot - and it bounced. We were both one shots for one another, and I'm pretty certain he thought it was game over for me. I know I thought that in any case. But as he fired, I bounced his shot as well. I have to admit, there is little that makes me grin more than when I bounce a shot fired from the same tank that I'm driving. He tried to hide behind the corpse of the M103, but my tank being as mobile was it was, I drove around it and fired - killing him. It was at this point that I realised that I could earn a Kolobanov in this match - and a Radley-Walter at that. All the while, Puffin was encouraging me through Skype, and I would have hated to let him down. I think his talking helped me keep my cool, despite my heart beating in my throat.

I stood facing the bridge. And whenever I have to do that, I have to think about the title 'A Bridge Too Far'. Because that is usually what it is. The E100 would be a one-shot for me as well, assuming he didn't manage to let me bounce my shots, which, in that tank, is a great possibility. The IS3 would require two. And time was ticking away, which only added to the pressure I felt.

The IS3 peeked over the bridge, allowing me to damage him, reducing him to a one-shot as well. This was specifically why I was waiting for them to come to me - had I gone, I would have been dead right away. But since we all knew I would need time to reload, they came across the bridge right after I damaged the IS3. I aimed at the E100, because he was the bigger threat, and backed away a little. The IS3 drove into me, turning my tank (because it's such a light-weight), and making me lose my aim. Both of them having turrets, I knew I had to move, or I would get stuck between them and then I would die very easily indeed.

I drove forwards, and turned, wishing to a number of deities that I would finish turning before the E100 fired at me. But he never did, though he must have reloaded easily by then. As soon as I was reasonably sure I would hit him where it hurt (because, no guts, no glory), I fired. And killed him. This left only around twenty seconds or so to kill the IS3 however, and he hadn't fired a shot yet either.

I hated to admit defeat, but I was sure he'd kill me, despite me being a tier X and him a tier VIII. I had only just over 200 HP left, after all. But just like the E100, he didn't fire, only backed off in search of cover as I advanced on him when my gun nearly finished reloading. With 7 seconds to go, I fired, and killed him, causing both myself and Puffin to exclaim loudly as the text "Battle Finished" came onto the screen. I couldn't believe I had survived that, much less that I had done that. I'm not a bad player, but this was wicked awesome for me.

I did 5,289 damage that game, made 5 kills, and earned 5 medals (Master Badge First Class (not even Ace D= ), Top Gun, Radley-Walter, Sniper and the Kolobanov). The only thing that could have made it more awesome was if it had been a Raseinai. The hunt for that still continues.